Page 13 of Snapdragons
What she didn’t know was what had changed his mind after so much effort to finalize this match. And she hadn’t the first idea what to do next.
She moved to the next stall and made the acquaintance of a black mare with the lines of an Arabian and a striking white star and white sock. The mare was more standoffish but also decidedly more curious. Penelope thoroughly enjoyed interacting with horses whose minds she could practically see spinning. “Midnight,” according to this horse’s plaque, could almost certainly seePenelope’smind spinning. Niles hadn’t met her yet when he’d changed his mind, so it couldn’t have been an objection to her personally. It couldn’t have been her Irish origins, though that’d give some Englishmen pause, because he’d already known that about her. It couldn’t be his family’sobjections; they’d not had any.
Perhaps he’d never been in favor of the match but hadn’t told his family, or had told them and had been ignored. Or maybe he’d stayed away because he was a spoiled princeling having a tantrum. Or maybe the Greenberrys were enacting some scheme to convince Liam to concede more in the marriage agreements.
The only thing they could be holding out for was Fairfield.
The Greenberrys she’d interacted with in Cornwall hadn’t so much as mentioned the property, though, which suggested the arrangement didn’t botherthem.
If anyone had changed his mind, it was Niles. Which meanthismind was the one she needed to change back.
A little filly running around a small pen outside the stable captured Penelope’s attention, and she wandered out into the early morning light to watch. The young horse had a very elegantly high step, a highly sought-after trait in horses ridden by those wishing to appear very impressive. If Mr. Layton didn’t intend to keep the filly, he could ask a hefty sum for her.
Penelope’s eyes wandered beyond the paddock and stables and out over Pledwick Manor’s side acres. This area of England, with its starkly stunning moors, was quite different from her family estate in the Wicklow Mountains, which was different still from what she’d seen of Cornwall. But nowhere she’d ever been had managed to supplant Fairfield in her heart.
She had made the journey to Surrey several times since she’d inherited it from her father’s uncle when she was still a child. From her first moments on the land that was hers, it had felt like home. It was peace and hope and the promise of freedom, of a life she could choose. No matter that there were more vast and impressive estates, she couldn’t imagine loving a place more.
From the very beginning, Mother had insisted it was folly to think of Fairfield as anything other than bait to snare a husband. It would be taken from her, Mother had warned. She wouldn’thave the running of it, Mother had insisted.
It wasn’t until she was grown that Penelope had learned that all Mother’s warnings would prove correct if Penelope didn’t take pains to avoid it. And she’d further discovered that not marrying at all wasn’t a truly viable option either. Merchants, men of business, creditors, potential purchasers of horses, Society, neighbors... seeminglyeveryonelooked painfully askance at a single lady living alone and attempting to establish herself as a successful woman of business, even when she was particularly qualified in the area of business she was pursuing.
“Have we fresh hay in Morwenna’s stall?” someone in the stables called out.
“Just tossed it in now,” someone else replied.
Morwenna was Niles’s mount. Niles, who had hidden here rather than return to Cornwall and follow through on their arrangement.
“You agreed to this,” she whispered, looking out over the land, knowing he was out there somewhere. “I can’t simply let you change your mind. I’d be destroyed.”
But how did one go about persuading a gentleman of wealth and birth, one who’d already shown himself willing to use dishonesty and underhandedness, to honor an agreement that was not yet binding?
And do I actually want to marry someone like that?
She shook her head as she walked along the paddock fence. A lady who needed a husband willing to allow her the freedom and consideration she was asking for could hardly be picky. “Beggars,” as John Heywood had written, “should be no choosers.” And, “Women who kick against the rocks,” as her mother had said, “are destined to be hurt and disappointed.”
She’d taken some comfort in how uninvolved Niles had been with the marriage negotiations. It increased the chances that he would simply leave her alone in the years to come, and then whatsort of gentleman he was wouldn’t matter overly much.
How was this the best she hoped for? A husband whose best trait was that even with effort, he couldn’t have been made to carelessabout her than he did? She had long ago decided that apathy was preferable to cruelty in a husband. But indifference was also a far cry from caring, even farther from love.
Be no chooser, she reminded herself. She had reached twenty-five years old without anyone showing a tender interest in her. Finding someone who loved her had long ago been shown too remote a possibility. She needed to focus on what was real and within reach.I am going to sort you out, Niles Greenberry. Ihaveto.
Liam arrived at the stables just as her steps brought her back to that building. “I should have realized you would be looking over the horses.”
“I can’t help myself.” She glanced back at the sweet filly. “I’m seldom happier than when I’m with horses.”
“One would think you like horses better than people.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes.”
He looked instantly nervous. “You shouldn’t jest about that among people who don’t know you well. You’ll give offense, Penelope, and I suspect our welcome here is a bit shaky as it is.”
“Our host has given no indication that he would toss out two people on whom his dear friend and weeks-long houseguest had played so unkind a trick.” Penelope was depending on that, in fact.
She had called upon every bit of persuasive reasoning she could think of to convince her brother to make this unplanned journey to Yorkshire. He had been ready to abandon the match entirely. He’d insisted during breakfast the morning after that awkward supper at Niles’s grandparents’ home that returning to Ireland and finding a “less complicated match” was their best option. Only by pointing out that returning with a still-unmarried sister after having been a bit smug about securing a connection to such a well-respected English family would be horribly embarrassing did she convince Liam to take this drastic step in the hope of bringing the whole thing about after all. She couldn’t give up after less than twenty-four hours.
“While I have not seen all the horses, those I have seen are quite impressive,” she said. “You should have an enjoyable ride this morning.”
“Do you not intend to ride?” Liam eyed her. “You aren’t dressed for it.”
